Jhakas | Sanjay Jha
Brian Lara was clearly suffering from a stiff back. But he was certainly not stiff-upper lip when doing a post-match post-mortem. As the West Indies, after an inexplicably exasperating crawl which almost resulted in a silly sensational collapse, finally carved out yet another rout of India at Motera, Ahmedabad, the Men in Blue looked like they had been shell-shocked, and not by Diwali firecrackers for sure.
Without any pretension of reservation, Lara smacked and socked Indian coach Greg Chappell straight where it would cause acute pain and wobbly feet. Lara and his under-rated colleagues are evidently still simmering over the sardonic statement made by Chappell earlier this year, “The West Indies have forgotten to win”. The modest Carribeans have not yet forgotten that humiliating assessment, as they have unexpectedly become Rahul Dravid’s new nemesis. A 4-1 decisive defeat followed Mr Chappell’s snide remarks, and in Kuala Lumpur India tasted some spicy green curry as well before being reduced to an abject bundle in Ahmedabad last evening. Thank you, Chappell! Continue reading below
I am still puzzled by some of the mysterious decisions taken by the Indian think-tank on Thursday, amongst other imponderables. Let me summarise quickly:
1) I am astonished at the continuing craziness in needlessly persisting with Irfan Pathan at No 3 in the batting order. As an occasional situational tactical move it is understandable, but with India batting first and needing a big total, why should Pathan precede established batsmen? Repeatedly shuffling his position is affecting Pathan’s all-round potential -- notice the sudden decline in his wicket-taking capabilities and erratic batting show. Guru Greg’s (or whatever Chappell’s suckers in the media would like to call him) experimentation is now an ego issue with him; he will persist notwithstanding the fact that the lab tests have produced a birth-control pill when it was meant to create a Viagra clone.
2) Considering the fact that we are playing on home turf on slow wickets, what was the big wisdom in playing with four fast bowlers? Not that our Four Feathers hit the deck with ferocious intensity anyway? Or bring the nine-pins down with faultless regularity. In fact, weren’t the Windies likely to get home-sick playing against that familiar pace? It was both an asinine and an arrogant decision that expectedly boomeranged. If portly Romesh Powar was not included, the Indians should have played Dinesh Mongia. At one point, Ajit Agarkar almost bowled a ball to third-slip, perhaps momentarily blinded by insects flying into his wide eyeballs. Pathan, who should have had the poker faced hailstorm Chris Gayle had not Suresh Raina generously grassed a catch early on, got replaced far too pre-maturely. RP Singh looked like he had forgotten that this was a live game and not a net practice session.
3) And no one seems to have noticed the absolutely ridiculous scheduling of the Champions Trophy -- which reflects the pathetic gross incompetence of both ICC and BCCI. The Indians looked suitably corroded after a 11-day intervening Diwali holiday since their facile victory over England on October 15th. But what takes the cake, bakery and the chocolate factory is that the West Indies are playing England with just one day’s break (even in a friendly bilateral series this rarely occurs) on the 28th Oct 2006. Completely absurd and downright stupid stuff; in fact, on this count I sympathise wholeheartedly with Rahul Dravid’s team.
4) Suresh Raina is a sweet lad with future potential who is clearly unprepared for the big league right now and is being aggressively pushed ahead just to keep Sourav Ganguly in the cold storage. Ganguly would have mercilessly slaughtered the mediocre West Indies bowlers, further strengthening the middle–order. It is about time the new selectors led by an experienced Dilip Vengsarkar bring back the unlucky, harassed and relegated southpaw. Indian cricket needs Ganguly. I don’t care who is our celebrity coach with a diabolical bias and a fat pay-cheque; I want India to win. Don’t we all?
5) Rahul Dravid looked a forlorn, lonely figure, like a leader without a ladder to climb as he stared haplessly and hopelessly as the Indians committed hara-kiri while batting, and continued with their suicidal propensities when bowling-fielding later. That the West Indies almost returned the compliment has more to do with their charitable disposition rather than our outstanding comeback, although Dravid tried his best. Dravid will need strategic counseling and consulting support in crucial match-situations form astute minds like Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar in the testing months ahead. Sehwag may be the vice-captain, but did you once see Dravid confabulating with the robotic rustic run-getter?
The captain needs to call the shots, and it may help the Indian team to keep their cell-phones on when the coach is haranguing them, in the process indulging in petty self-promotional gimmicks in front of whirring TV cameras. I think Chappell is readying for a Broadway comedy show if his body movements and facial expressions were anything to go by.
The cynics are already saying 'murder' at Mohali. I believe the heading could still be Miracle at Mohali.
But for that the Men in Blue need to keep their headphones on.
